The Elections Commission has requested the Supreme Court to expedite the case asking to remove several articles from the Political Parties Act.
The Elections Commission was summoned to Supreme Court today for the trial on the case filed by Vice President of Gaumee Party Imad and Gaumee Itthihad, asking to remove several articles from the Political Parties Act.
In court today, the Elections Commission lawyer said that the commission did not wish to comment on the issue.
This was followed by the judge directing several questions at the Elections Commission lawyer.
After answering the questions, she requested the court to expedite the case.
Gaumee Ittihad has requested to remove two articles from the Political Parties Act. They are article 8 (b) which states that parties with less than 10,000 members on the day the Political Parties Bill is ratified shall be dissolved, and article 11 (a) which states that 10,000 membership forms must be submitted in order to register a political party.
The case filed by Imad Solih also requests to remove these two articles.
In addition, he has requested to remove articles 10 (c), 11 (a), 11 (d), 27 (c), 29 (a) (1), 29 (b), 35 (a), 35 (b), 36 (a), 36 (b), 37 (a), 37 (b) and 37 (c).
Imad has asked the court to declare that these articles contradict articles 4, 20 and 30 (a) of the Constitution, as well as some sections of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Maldives is party.
Imad’s lawyer Dr Hassan Saeed said that the Political Parties Act obstructs article 30 of the Constitution, which states that every citizen has the right to establish political parties.
The lawyer representing Gaumee Itthihad said that the requirement of 10,000 members in political parties is against the policy followed by other countries, and that the Political Parties Act denies the rights of several citizens.
Referring to the section of the Act which allows foreign groups to fund political parties, Dr Hassan Saeed said that this would allow foreign groups to interfere with and influence the internal affairs of the Maldives. He highlighted that the Political Parties Act gives foreign groups the opportunity to pay political parties in order to create disorder within Maldives.
Detailed arguments were also presented by the State in court today.
This case has also been intervened by Maldives Development Alliance (MDA).
Lawyer representing MDA, Maumoon Hameed said that the Political Parties Act obstructs party members’ right to participate in the party and political activities.
Maumoon Hameed highlighted that MDA members lost their rights when this Act came into effect, and detailed other concerns associated with this new law.
No announcements were made by the bench before concluding today’s session.